Not trying to be sensationalist — this hack really is essential for every kid to know.

There’s a iPhone hack doing the rounds on Facebook that seems too important not to share.

The latest iOS for iPhone has an important safety feature built in that every kid (and their parents) needs to know about.

If you ever find yourself in an unsafe situation and need to discreetly call the police, all you need to do is press the iPhone lock button (on the right-hand-side) quickly 5 times.

When you slide the Emergency SOS bar to the right, your phone will immediately dial 000 and connect you with the Emergency operator.

Even if your phone is out of service, if another provider has service in the area you are dialling 000 from, your call will most likely be connected.

Reassuring to know, right?

I’ve already showed my three kids (aged 13, 12 and nine) how to use this hack just in case of an emergency.

EMERGENCY CONTACTS LIST

You can also add emergency contacts to your phone so that after your 000 call ends, your iPhone alerts your emergency contacts with a text message. Your iPhone will send your current location, and will even send updates if your location changes during a certain period after the emergency call has ended.

Add emergency contacts to your phone via the Health app. Tap on the Medical ID tab, scroll down and you will see the green plus button next to ‘emergency contacts’. Hit the plus button and add your people.

Five quick hits on the side of the phone and a slide is so much easier than unlocking the phone and dialling 000. It’s reassuring to know that it’s so easy to get help if it’s needed — and hopefully it will never be needed.

OTHER NEW SAFETY FEATURES WORTH KNOWING ABOUT

A few other ‘good to know’ features in iPhone iOS11 that can help keep the kids safe:

Do Not Disturb While Driving — The first time your iOS 11 iPhone senses you might be driving, it shows a description of the Do Not Disturb while driving feature after you stop. If this doesn’t show up for you, you can turn it on in the Control Centre of your phone. Go to Settings > Control Centre > Customise Controls > Do Not Disturb While Driving.

Improved Parental Controls — the parental controls has received a revamp and it’s now a lot easier to restrict access on your iPhone.

More hoops for kids’ to jump through for apps — the new system makes verification codes mandatory between kids’ accounts and parents accounts when downloading apps. This means that even if your kids guess your password, they will still need you to send a verification code in order for them to download new apps. What a good idea.